Babbage & Lovelace: The Victorian Computer Wizard and the Enchantress of Numbers - Paperback

by John Monahan (Author)

By the mid-1800's the Industrial Revolution was in full swing, changing every aspect of society from the depths of the deepest mine to the loftiest halls of power, but in the midst of all that, unknown to many, another revolution was brewing. In an age of steam, an idiosyncratic inventor named Charles Babbage, with the aid of the brilliant young Ada Lovelace, daughter of the notorious Lord Byron, were planning to bring Victorian Britain into the information age. Together they tried to create a working computer, half a century before the first light bulbs or automobiles. It would be constructed of gears and powered by steam, but it would undeniably be a computer capable of performing calculations and solving problems with greater speed and accuracy than any human. As Ada herself described it, "The Analytical Engine does not occupy common ground with mere 'calculating machines.' It holds a position wholly its own, and the considerations it suggests are more interesting in their nature."Stranger and more compelling than fiction, this is the true story of two of history's most fascinating figures and their quest to jump-start the computer revolution. It's a story of courageous people fighting back against the smothering gender roles of their day. It's a story of visionaries who were willing to risk everything to usher their world into a new age, but ultimately it's a story of two extraordinary individuals and the bonds between them.